Pulau Ubin

SG neighbourhood
image

englishname=Pulau Ubin
chinesename=乌敏岛
poj=
pengim=
pinyin=wūmǐn dǎo
malayname=Pulau Ubin
tamilname=உபின்தீவு

Pulau Ubin is a small island (10.19 km²) situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. Granite quarrying supported a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about a hundred villagers live there today. It is one of the last rural areas to be found in Singapore.

Etymology

The name "Pulau Ubin" literally means "Granite Island" in Malay, which explains the many abandoned granite quarries there. The word "ubin" is said to be a Javanese term for "squared stone". To the Malays, the island is also known as "Pulau Batu Ubin", or "Granite Stone Island". The rocks on the island were used to make floor tiles in the past and were called "Jubin", which was then shortened to Ubin.

The island is known as "chioh sua" in Hokkien, which means "stone hill".

Legend

Legend has it that Pulau Ubin was formed when three animals from Singapore (a frog, a pig and an elephant) challenged each other to a race to reach the shores of Johor. The animals that failed would turn to stone. All three came across many difficulties and were unable to reach the shores of Johor. Therefore, the elephant and pig together turned into Pulau Ubin whilst the frog became Pulau Sekudu or Frog Island.cite web |url= http://www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/places/legend.htm|title= Legends of Pulau Ubin|accessdate=2007-08-19 |format= |work= Wild Singapore]

History

Pulau Ubin first appeared on map in an 1828 sketch of the Island of Singapore as "Pulo Obin" and in Franklin and Jackson's map as "Po. Ubin".

Since the British founding of Singapore, the island has been known for its granite. The numerous granite quarries on the island supply the local construction industry. The granite outcrops are particularly spectacular from the sea because their grooves and fluted sides create furrows and ridges on each granite rock slab. These features are captured in John Turnbull Thomson's 1850 painting — "Grooved stones on Pulo Ubin near Singapore".

The granite from Pulau Ubin was used in the construction of Horsburgh Lighthouse. "Tongkangs" ferried the huge rock blocks (30 by 20 feet) from the island to Pedra Branca, the site of the lighthouse, in 1850 and 1851.

Later, the granite was also used to build the Singapore-Johor Causeway. None of the quarries are in operation today and are being slowly recolonised by vegetation or filled with water. Apart from quarrying, farming and fishing were the principal occupations of the inhabitants of the island in the past. It is also called "Selat Tebrau" ("tebrau" is a kind of large fish).

In the 1880s, a number of Malays led by Endut Senin, from the Kallang River were said to have moved to the island that began the thriving Malay community on the island.

Many of the former "kampongs" on Pulau Ubin were either named after the first person who settled in the "kampong" or by some feature in the area. Kampong Leman was named by Leman; Kampong Cik Jawa by a Singaporean named Jawa; and Kampong Jelutong from people from Changi and from its "jelutong" trees.

On June 3, 2005, the Singapore Government ordered that all the farmers rearing poultry on the island were to ship them to mainland Singapore and rear them in government-approved farms by June 17 2005, in the wake of the avian influenza from Malaysia. In exchange, the local inhabitants were offered HDB government housing packages, although they could choose to live on the island.

Current situation

Pulau Ubin is one of the last areas in Singapore that has been preserved from urban development, concrete buildings and tarmac roads.

Pulau Ubin's wooden house villages and wooden jetties, relaxed inhabitants, rich and preserved wildlife, abandoned quarries and plantations, and untouched nature in general make it the last witness of the old "kampong" Singapore that existed before modern industrial times and large scale urban development.

The Singapore Government's development projects on the island in the last few years has been controversial and debate has been able to find its way through government-controlled media. So far ideas to build public housing on the island connected to Singapore island via undersea tunnels carrying MRT lines have remained on the urban planners' drawing boards.

Though recent government action has been limited to widening the paths for bicycles, building shelters for trekkers and other facilities for the growing number of visitors, it is already discreetly changing the face and nature of Pulau Ubin from untouched to planned, and paving the way for further developments.

In 2007, the Singapore Government decided to reuse the Granite Quarry in Pulau Ubin due to indications that Indonesia might restrict exports of granite to Singapore. The future of the island is in the hands of Singapore Government which may postpone its development preferring to concentrate on re-developing existing space on Singapore island and nearby Pulau Tekong. For now Pulau Ubin is a haven as a former rural way of life will most likely disappear with its last "kampong" generation passing.

Local tourism

Though the island attracted attention for development and planning only in recent years, Singaporeans visitors have been visiting Pulau Ubin for summer camps and outdoor activities for many years.

With growing attention and interest in nature, the flow of visitors to Pulau Ubin has increased over the years.

One of the current popular tourist attractions on the island is Chek Jawa. A previous coral reef 5,000 years ago, Chek Jawa can be said to be virtually unspoilt, with a variety of marine wildlife comparable to other islands, such as sea hares, sea squirts, octopuses, starfishes, sand dollars, fishes, sponges, cuttlefishes and nudibranchs.

Visitors may travel to Pulau Ubin from the main island of Singapore via a 10-minute bumboat ride from the Changi Village jetty.

Culture

MediaCorp filmed a Channel 8 television drama called My Teacher, My Friend in 1999 about the lives of students in the primary school that used to exist on Pulau Ubin.

Notes

References

*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), "Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names", Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1

External links

* [http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=29&Itemid=73 National Parks Board - Pulau Ubin]
* [http://www.tierrawiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Pulau_Ubin TierraWiki.org: Outdoor activities on Pulau Ubin]
* [http://www.focusubin.org/ Focus Ubin] an Ubin-only website with latest updates on events, news and web resources on Ubin.
* [http://www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/index.html Pulau Ubin on wildsingapore] latest happenings, how to get there, what to see and do, tips for visitors, galleries.
* Outward Bound Singapore has camps at Pulau Ubin and uses it as a training ground for some of [http://www.obs.pa.gov.sg/programmes/obs.htm its programmes] .
* Ecology Asia feature on the island's wildlife - [http://www.ecologyasia.com/html-loc/pulau-ubin.htm "Pulau Ubin - the last rural corner of Singapore"] .
* Habitatnews blog about the island - [http://pulauubinstories.blogspot.com Pulau Ubin Stories] .
* Cycling tours to learn about nature, geography and culture on the island - [http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/activities/pedalubin/ Pedal Ubin!] .
* Peter Chou's Photos at PBase - [http://www.pbase.com/kepha/ubin/ Changi Point and Pulau Ubin] .
* [http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=1.413316,103.960276&spn=0.030804,0.064201&t=k&om=1 Satellite image of Pulau Ubin] - Google Maps
* Pulau Ubin Explorer Services - [http://www.ubinexplorer/ Guided Tour on Pulau Ubin] .
* Photos of Ubin of yesteryear - [http://www.pixsync.com/singapore/ubin/ Ubin 99, Singapore]